Splash95

This reinforces what I said earlier: gearhog has a point. Also it’s a bit astounding, even for a longtime mostly lurker/occasional poster who has read dozens of their posts, how unimpressively nsplayr and Lawman come off in this discussion.

I've listened to the Duran podcast a bit, likely because it got brought up here. It certainly takes the general viewpoint that things are going badly for Ukraine/The West and well for Russia. 99.8% of what I've read, heard and watched since 2022 takes the general viewpoint that things are going well for Ukraine/The West and badly for Russia. Wars will always be accompanied by propaganda on both sides. As someone predisposed to look at news from a pro-American (and certainly not pro-Russian) perspective when this all kicked off, I've become more aware day by day that the news getting blasted to essentially all Americans/Westerners who don't bother to dig deeper is often less reliable than purported. This assessment will not get me many upvotes, but gearhog and Bashi have a point.

What do we think will happen to the active service members who signed this?

I feel your pain man. I also battled for years to get to UPT (to include ETP for age/rank/TAFSC), had periodic struggles while there, but got through Trans, Nav, Form and Mission phase. Then on graduation week, with my parents, retired O-6 uncle and family friends already in town, I hooked the check and the 89, didn't get reinstated and was done. A couple of years later, I still don't truly understand it and I know I never will, so I've found peace through consciously refusing further futile attempts. My advice to you: Whatever your support system is (God, family, friends, girlfriend, etc), lean on it. I got essentially no support from within the USAF, either locally at the UPT base or from my ANG home unit, but my parents and other family members let me know that they loved me regardless, and that helped. I've since transferred to a different unit to do a different job. I may not be "loving life" professionally a la viperdriver's roommate, but I can sleep at night because I know I busted my ass 6 and sometimes 7 days a week for a year and at every juncture I made the best decision I could with the information I had. It seems you have also given it your best shot. I won't BS you: if you're male and caucasian, your time as a student pilot is finished. If not, you may have a shot, but either way it's time to think about, first, how best to navigate the likely upcoming stages of grief, and second, what you'll seek to do for the rest of your career. I commend your willingness to share your difficulties with what can often seem a harsh and not empathetic forum, and I certainly wish you the best moving forward. Last, if it would help you any to have a conversation with someone who has traveled this path, feel free to shoot me a DM.

Guardsman who just finished ACSC in case anyone has questions. I started it in early 2018, so you can infer how much I enjoyed the process!

I truly appreciate you responding. I would in turn submit that your side are often the ones arguing in bad faith. Those of us who want peace in Ukraine, and question the wisdom of massive, open-ended support for an indefinite proxy war which has claimed tens of thousands of lives for little to no benefit of anyone, are (in the aggregate) not disinformation purveyors, Putin shills, etc. My opinions are my own, whether any of them happens to coincide with one held by Russians, Ukrainians, or those of other nationality. I've never been a Trump fanboy, but I think he gets it here: And I certainly don't hold Putin in high esteem, but when he says "The West will fight us to the last Ukrainian" (I can't find the exact quote right now), is he wrong? https://www.cato.org/commentary/washington-will-fight-russia-last-ukrainian

What do you argue for, @Best-22? Or are you content to keep looking like a particularly impotent loser with your ubiquitous and utterly predictable downvotes from the sidelines?

Lol that's not remotely what I said. I even stated flat out that I was not "convinced" it was us. I've read a bit now about Hersh's credibility issues and can understand why some discount his piece. Still, between my original first question, Biden's own words and especially the senate hearing testimony, it's hard not to discount the very real possibility (if not likelihood) that we did this. If true, as @ViperMan pointed out, one doesn't have to even consider it a bad thing. People can take the position that, in this proxy war against the Russians, any action that harms Russia and benefits Ukraine/the West is justified. I simply find the general reaction in this thread disingenuous, and I appreciate @Lord Ratner and @BashiChuni for willingness to share their skepticism.

I must admit I find it a little crazy that virtually no one on this forum other than gearhog even acknowledges the possibility that the Nord Stream culprit isn't whom the West wants it to be. A couple of questions which will hopefully stimulate some thinking, but instead will likely just get me downvoted and dunked on by the BO.net mainstream: 1. Who stands to gain? 2. If there were anything tying the Russians to this, wouldn't the investigating parties (who, being Western, clearly would want to finger the Russians) have found it or at least "found it" after several months? 3. Hersh is an old man. Considering his My Lai and Abu Ghraib work, and even taking CH's word for it that he has also espoused conspiracy theories at times, his legacy seems secure. Why would he throw it away with an in-depth, elaborate fabrication? None of these questions mean that I'm convinced of a heterodox explanation for the blasts. They simply represent that, in my mind, it is absolutely valid for American citizens (among others) to have and express doubts, especially since zero explanation has been on offer.

Any cruise lines with military deals?

My (previous) ANG WG/CC straight up told all his O-4s that without ACSC we would not promote to O-5, period. Sounds like he's at least partially wrong...@Guardian? Appreciate any light others can shed on this issue.

The mods apparently locked the other thread, and since the wu flu doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon I think we should still have the ability to discuss it and its impact within and outside the AF. Anyone follow Alex Berenson btw? https://alexberenson.substack.com/

Still perusing the Spartacus letter and forming my own opinion of it (haven't started digging into the references), but curious as to (1) who the source may be, and (2) what Pawnman/Negatory and friends think.

Anecdotal, but I talked to an Army guy the other day who said 7 in his unit were quickly booted with general discharges for refusing the shot.

Scary stuff.